The present invention relates to a new and distinct Itea plant, botanically known as Itea virginiana, commonly referred to as Virginia Sweetspire and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘SMNIVDFC’.
The new Itea plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program was to create new freely-branching Itea plants with fragrant flowers and attractive autumn leaf coloration.
The new Itea plant originated from an open-pollination in 2011 in Grand Haven, Mich. of an unnamed seedling selection of Itea virginiana, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Itea virginiana as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Itea plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich. in 2014.
Asexual reproduction of the new Itea plant by softwood stem cuttings in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich. since 2014 has shown that the unique features of this new Itea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.